Here Lies the Witch
by PippinStrange
Summary: A few years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Professor Marwick returns to Hogwarts to teach. His half-blood girlfriend was tragically killed by Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, and he wants a fresh start- but returning to Hogwarts brings memories back... memories with Tom Riddle, of bullying, of the gray era before the black reign of Voldemort. Read and Review!


**A few years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Professor Marwick returns to Hogwarts to teach. His half-blood girlfriend was tragically killed by Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, and he wants a fresh start- but returning to Hogwarts brings memories back... memories with Tom Riddle, of bullying, of the gray era before the black reign of Voldemort.**

**[character imagined as being played by Benedict Cumberbatch]**

**[check pippin .com for the gif that inspired this fic]**

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**_The sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:_**

**_At one stride comes the dark._**

**- S.T. Coleridge, _The Ancient Mariner_**

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"Anything off the trolley, luv?"

Professor Marwick turned away from the window, almost unable to rip his gaze from the blur of the trees. It was fascinating, the way the land flew backwards and time moved onwards, carrying a life forward and leaving memories- and people- behind.

"No, I'm sorry," he gave the elderly woman his full attention now, not understanding her question. She was pushing a cart, overwhelmed with colorful candy that turned noses purple and made sparkling dragonflies light up ones' stomach from the inside. He couldn't help but smile- not much had changed, then. "Oh, I see," he smiled at the woman, who squinted at him suspiciously. "No, no thank-you, I'm fine. Save them for the children, eh?" She shook her head and clicked her tongue, before moving on, calling cheerily into the next compartment.

Marwick smiled to himself. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about the trolley woman, with all her steadfast offerings and plump body pushing down the slender train aisle. It had been many years since his first year at Hogwarts; and it was the first year that was the most magical. The subsequent years- full of suspicion, fear, and tension- were the ones he tried to repress in the darkest memories.

He hoped those memories would join the rest of the blurred trees, whipping by like streamers behind a demon's tail, and fall behind forever.

"Scoose meh, sah?" said a harsh accent, wrapped in a tinny, small voice of an eleven year old boy. Giant blue eyes gaped at Professor Marwick in the crack of the sliding door.

"Yes, can I help you?" Marwick replied kindly, his deep voice a natural, reassuring tone that he adopted for the youngest of the children. God, if any of them had the potential to become…

"I's jist wonderin'," said the boy, tugging uncomfortably at his black robe. "Why you on th' tren?"

"I regret I did not make the early arrival," Marwick replied, smiling down at the boy. _Muggle funerals have a way of demanding the time and place, even if it meant missing teacher orientation. _He didn't need to try and explain this to the young one.

"Why you so big?"

"I'm a teacher," Marwick fought a smile- a smile that had prompted his fellow students to call him _horse-faced. _The smile that, after a time, had been his trademark, and even found attractive by a certain lady- no, no, it wasn't the time to think of her. It was the time to NOT think about her.

"Yer a teachah?" gasped the boy, straightening himself, hands flailing. "Wot one?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Marwick replied, the title rolling out with some degree of self-importance. It was a position that many sought and only one would be granted. And he was that one- but at what cost? Due to the dark times, Marwick wasn't the only one with experience under his belt. Mere children were heroes nowadays.

"Bluddy-em, I mean-SARRY! Professah! I'll jist, be, em, on me way." He disappeared from the door, and Marwick let himself laugh. Were they all so terrified of the teachers when they first arrived? Had HE been? He had to admit, he'd always felt uncomfortable about Professor Dumbledore. But, of course, that was only because he did not want to be a disappointment to him. No one wanted to disappoint him.

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The train's whistle exuded a long wail, ending in a sort of birdsong echo against the forest-studded mountains that surrounded the castle. In a flash, Marwick was blinded in the cloud of steam that blew across the station platform. With a rhythmic chortle, the train pulled out slowly and began the crawl back to nine and three quarters.

The steam cleared, and there was Hogwarts in the distance. Was majestic even a word when such a place existed? Marwick took a deep breath, appreciating the cold smell of the lake drifting towards him. The spires and architecture of the castle graced the backdrop of the mountains, like hands held upward to demand his attention. It would soon be home. Full of young ones, awaiting knowledge, awaiting his wisdom and attention- _it's not just any castle_, Marwick thought. _It's a living thing, and it's beckoning. _

And then, when he took his small, leather briefcase, he went across the platform. He remembered the magical carriages, and what fun he had, imagining th-

A black, skeletal horse, knobby bones protruding hideously, and wings of bats gracing its shoulders, was attached to the carriage like a cart horse. Marwick was a student who saw invisible nothings at the wheels, and never imagined anything like this.

And yet here they were, Thestrals, regal and frightening. It made Marwick physically recoil, knowing what must be sacrificed in order to see them. It made him sick for a moment, deep down, that he couldn't ring her up, or send her an owl. He couldn't laugh at this with her, and say, "Fancy that, a Thestral! Not pleasant to look at, eh?" This conversation would never occur. She was the one that granted them permission to be visible. Her casket signed the waiver. His eyes had been opened, at the cost of losing half his heart.

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**Please review! It's my first time writing seriously for the Harry Potter fandom, and I really enjoyed it =)**


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